Love Sucks
by Katarina Alejandra
Summary: Ophelia is sick of living a life of crime. Her only saving grace is the TV show the Vampire Diaries. She kills herself while watching TVD and wakes up in the TVD universe with strange tattoos on her wrist. She must figure out why she got a second chance at life and she must figure it out fast. Suck at summaries! Give it a read!
1. Pilot

I turn on the TV and put on Netflix. I scroll to the Vampire Diaries and start all over from the beginning, wishing I could press a restart button on my life. I don't know what I love so much about this show, but I just do. This is probably my third time watching the whole show, I basically have all the lines memorized. Once I press play, Stefan's voice starts to speak through my speakers. I sigh.

"For over a century I have lived in secret; hiding in the shadows, alone in the world. Until now. I am a vampire. And this is my story." I giggle at how dramatic the introduction of the show is. Cut to the next scene, where the couple are driving through Mystic Falls and they crash into a vampire. The vampire bites the guy, kills the girl, and then we get introduced to our main girl, Elena. I scoff. I get up and take half a bottle of sleeping pills. I don't think I've ever disliked a protagonist before this show. Her voice rings in my room as she writes in her diary. I lay down and slit both my wrists and wait for darkness to approach me. I was so numb to pain that the cuts felt nothing more than pinpricks.

I guess I never said who I was. Well, I'm Ophelia Braxon. I am 26 years old and my job was to read people. Read their body language. To tell if they're lying to me or not. I was in the drug business. I'm not proud of it, but it was the only way for me to survive. You see, I was an orphan at the age of 10 and I was put through foster care. I was introduced to drugs by my shitty foster parents and I've been leading my life of crime since I was 16. I had to learn who my friends were and who were not. People lie with their fake smiles and sweet words, so I learned to read their body language and their eyes. That always gives them away.

Anyway, I sold to gangs and to rich kids and most of the times I ended up with a knee in my gut and a punch to the face. My life sucked, but I made the most of it. I made good enough of money to have a quaint apartment and I could pay for Netflix. That's good enough for me. Still, I can't help but regret my life choices. The drugs I sold, ended and ruined the lives of other people. And all I can do to repent for that, is to end my own life. That's why I'm here, bleeding on my bed and watching the one show that could distract me from my life.

I zone back in to the present to hear Elena's monologue. "Dear diary, today will be different. It has to be. I will smile, and it will be believable. My smile will say, 'I'm fine, thank you. Yes, I feel much better.' I will no longer be the sad little girl who lost her parents. I will start fresh, be someone new." That sounded so nice. I wish I could start anew. I wish I could save lives that I know I could save. Elena continued. "It's the only way I could make it through." With that, I felt a darkness seep into my eyesight until I felt nothing.

I was floating in water. With mist surrounding me. I smile. I finally felt at peace. I could no longer do any damage. I can finally live, or die, without needing to survive. Before I know it, that peace is ripped away from me and it's almost like I'm yanked to the surface.

I gasp awake and stare at a ceiling that I know is not mine. I bring my wrists to my face and instead of finding slits, I find two tattoos. They're both the same and they're both on my wrists, right where I cut them. The tattoo consisted of two wings splayed out with the base leading a straight line down. I bring my fingers to run across one of the tattoos and I am met with smooth skin.

"What the-"

"Ophelia! It's time to get up you'll be late for school!" A woman yelled. School? I don't go to school anymore. Before I could do anything the door to the room opens. I look at the girl in the eyes. Brown met brown. I did the first thing that came to mind. I screamed.

"OH MY GOD. THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE. WHAT THE HELL IS-" before I could finish my mental breakdown, the girl rushes to me. I quickly back away from her and in my haste, I fall off the side of the bed. I lay there groaning as the girl looked at me worriedly.

"Lia, what happened? Are you ok?" I just shake my head.

"Nonononononononono. This can't be happening." I grab my head and start to rock back and forth. "I have to be dead. There's no other possible explanation."

"Ophelia!" I look up from my manic daze and I come face to face with none other than Elena Gilbert, from the Vampire Diaries. She grabs my shoulders and pulls me into a hug. "Shh... It's ok Lia, I'm here for you. It was just a nightmare." She leans back but doesn't let me go. "Get dressed it's time for school." She rubs my arms reassuringly and gets up from her kneeled position. "Jenna's downstairs already and Bonnie's picking us up. I'll wait for you downstairs." With that, she left the room.

I slowly got up from the floor and made my way to the bathroom. I look in the mirror and I find my 17 year old self staring back at me. I quickly turn on the tap and splash my face with cold water. I dry my face and continue to get ready. I go to the closet and grab some random clothes, a patterned flowy top with ripped mom jeans. I pull my straight hair up into a ponytail and slide on some black converse. I grab a waist bag that had school supplies in them and I slowly made my way down the stairs.

I overhear Jenna speaking with Elena. "Toast. I can make toast."

"It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna." I make my way into the kitchen and see Elena serving herself some coffee. I feel a presence behind me and I see Jeremy, in his all black clothing come inside the kitchen.

"Is there coffee?" Seeing them interact exactly how they do in the show was so surreal. I shake myself out of it and decide to go with the flow. If this hell or heaven or whatever, I may as well make the most of it.

"Morning guys." I serve myself some coffee along with Jeremy.

"It's your first day of school and I'm totally unprepared. Lunch money?" Jenna flutters around us, flustered.

"I'm good." Before Jeremy can take it, I grab it.

"Jeremy and I'll split it." He gives me a dirty look and I do what any other adult-stuck-in a-teenagers-body would do, I stuck my tongue out at him. He rolled his eyes and started to drink his coffee.

"Anything else?" Questioned Jenna. "A number two pencil? What am I missing?" Elena interrupts Jenna's rambling.

"Don't you have a big presentation today?" Jenna looks at her watch.

"I'm meeting with my thesis advisor at…. Now. Crap." She takes her messy bun down and Elena quickly reassures her.

"Then go, we'll be fine." Jenna sighs and walks away.

"You're doing great, sweetie!" I yell at Jenna's retreating back. But Elena ruins the mood by asking what grieving people hate to be asked.

"You ok?" Jeremy scoffs.

"Don't start." He walks away while sipping on his coffee. I give Elena an are-you-kidding-me look. She sighs and turns to drink her coffee. I look at the TV and it shows the two people who got killed by a vampire. Before I can say anything, we hear a car horn outside.

"Let's go, Bonnie's here." I grab my stuff and we head outside. Bonnie is seated in her little blue Toyota.

"Hey guys climb on in!" We straddled in and took off to Mystic Falls High School. Bonnie and Elena quickly started to talk while I sat in the back and pondered about my situation. I wondered what grade was I in. Was I Elena's twin or was I Jeremy's? Cause that changes the whole game if I'm related to Elena.

As I start thinking of my "past" I get a huge migraine. I groan and Elena's quick to ask if I'm ok. I wave her off when the migraine causes memories to appear. Elena and I celebrating our eighth birthday, running around with Jeremy in the backyard, throwing snow at Tyler. 17 years' worth of memories overpower my mind that the next thing I know, I'm shaken from my trance when Bonnie brakes the car.

"What the- what happened!" I'm ignored. Of course.

"What was that? Oh my god! Elena are you ok?" Bonnie asks.

"It's ok. I'm fine."

"I'm ok too. Thanks for asking." I say. Bonnie sighs.

"Sorry Lia, it was like a bird or something. It came out of nowhere."

"Really, I can't be freaked out by cars for the rest of my life." Elena interjects. Bonnie sighs again.

"I predict this year is going to be kick ass. And I predict all the sad and dark times are over and you are going to be beyond happy."

"Ohhh are we reading our horoscopes or something? What's mine?" Bonnie and Elena laugh.

"No, Bonnie's apparently psychic and she's giving me a prediction." I hum.

"I don't think you're quite right Bonnie." They turn to look at me. "I think the sad and dark times are just beginning, but happiness will be found in it." They looked at each other.

"That was weirdly gloomy. Let's change the subject!" Bonnie says as she starts the car. I roll my eyes and look at the crow perched on the street sign. They have no idea what's coming next.

* * *

We are walking down the hallway when Bonnie tells us, "Major lack of male real estate. Look at that shower curtain on Kelly Beach. She looks like a hot- can I still say tranny mess?" Elena shakes her head as we lean across the lockers

"No, that's over."

"Ah, find a man, coin a phrase. It's a busy year." Bonnie says.

"What can you expect Bonnie, this is a small town where everybody knows everybody. It's rare to see someone new here." She smiles and shakes her head as she starts to open her locker. Bonnie looks over Elena's shoulder and we turn to find Matt leaning on the other side of the lockers looking at Elena like an angsty teenager. Elena being the girl she is, waves at him awkwardly. I slap her hand down.

"Are you fucking crazy? He's heartbroken and you're rubbing salt to the wound by waving at him." I hear Matt's locker slam. "See what I mean? You're just making things worse." Elena sighs.

"He hates me."

"That's not hate. That's 'you dumped me and I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits.'" Before Elena or I could say anything we hear our names being called. When we turn around, we're engulfed in an armful of blonde. Caroline speaking at 100 miles a minute.

"Oh, it's so good to see you." She looks at Bonnie. "How are they? Are they good?"

"We're right here, Caroline and we're fine. Thanks." Elena nods along and smiles, tight lipped.

"Really?" giving us almost a doubtful look.

"Yes, much better." Elena interjects. Caroline reaches to hug us but I quickly step out of the way. Elena was not fast enough and was caught up in Caroline's trap. I stifled a laugh.

"Oh, you poor thing." Caroline whines.

"Ok, Caroline." Elena grunts. They separate and Caroline looks at all three of us.

"Ok, see you guys later?" We all make noises of agreements and Caroline finally walks away. We look at each other.

"No comment." Elena says.

"For once, I agree." Bonnie laughs.

"I'm not gonna say anything." We all start to head to class.

* * *

Jeremy is near the back of the school as he gives the girl directions on the drugs. "Don't take more than two in a six-hour window." Vickie quickly takes the pills. When her boyfriend, Tyler walks up to them.

"Hey Vickie, I knew I'd find you with the crackheads." Vickie smiles at Tyler.

"Hey." She says flirtasiously.

"Pete Wentz called and he wants his nail polish back." Tyler quips at Jeremy.

"Pete Wentz, huh? How old school 'T.L.R' of you." Jeremy takes a drag from his blunt. "Carson Daly fan?" Tyler starts to approach him, but Vickie stops him.

"Oh, Ty, be nice. Be nice. That's Elena and Ophelia's little brother."

"I know who he is, but I'll still kick his ass." They quickly start to make out and Jeremy walks away from both of them.

* * *

We were passing past the front office when Bonnie stopped us. "Hold up, who's this?" Without turning around I already knew who she was referencing. Stefan Salvatore. Now things are getting good.

"All I see is back." Elena says.

"It's a hot back." They both laugh. When Stefan took off his glasses I knew he was compelling the secretary to overlook his missing documents. "I'm sensing Seattle, and he plays a guitar." Bonnie comments. Elena scoffs.

"You're really going to run this whole psychic thing into the ground, huh?" Bonnie nods.

"Pretty much."

"I think you're more than psychic, Bonnie." I wiggle my fingers at her. "You're a witch." Bonnie laughs.

"You're starting to sound like grams." I smile and shake my head. Wishing I was lying. We turned to look at Stefan when I noticed that his head was tilted. He was definitely listening. I smirked. Let's play a little game on poor Stefan. I turn to Bonnie.

"So what were you saying about this new guy?"

"I'm saying that he seems like the dark and mysterious type."

"Nah I feel like he has an older brother and he's more the dark and mysterious type. This guy seems like the angsty type." Stefan stiffened. Bonnie and Elena gave me a puzzled look. "What? I wanna be psychic too y'know." They laugh. I kept my eyes on Stefan throughout the exchange he relaxed a little but still remained tense.

"You've been acting kinda weird since this morning. Are you sure you're okay?" Before Elena could continue, she noticed Jeremy sneak into the boy's bathroom.

"Elena, don't-" but she ignored me. She followed Jeremy. I sighed. "You go ahead Bonnie, I'll wait for her." Bonnie nodded and went to class.

Jeremy was putting eye drops on when Elena stormed inside. She slammed Jeremy against the sink and checked his eyes. "Great. It's the first day of school and you're stoned."

"No, I'm not." He scoffs. I laugh.

"You so are." They both look at me.

"You're not helping." I raise my hands in surrender. "Where is it? Is it on you?" Elena starts to check his pockets.

"Stop, all right?! You need to chill yourself, all right?"

"Chill myself? What is that, stoner talk? Dude, you are so cool." She continues to pat him down.

"Look, stop! I don't have anything on me. Are you crazy?" Jeremy exclaims.

"You haven't seen crazy, Jeremy! I gave you a summer pass, but I'm done watching you destroy yourself." Elena continues to pat him down.

"Ok, hold up, now it's my turn to intervene. Elena, you need to stop. Yelling at him and pressuring him is not helping. As I keep mentioning, you're making. It. Worse. This is his way of coping." My voice cracked as I started to tear up. They weren't my parents, but they _were my parents _and my emotions didn't know what to do and neither did I.

"So stop it with this hall monitor crap because we're still grieving and everybody grieves differently. I'm done with you controlling how we grieve! You aren't any better Elena! You don't think I don't know where you've been sneaking off to? So, try again Elena, I dare you. Come on, Jer."

Jeremy pushed off the sink and we both left Elena in the restroom.

"Hey, Lia, thanks back there-" I held up my hand, stopping him from speaking.

"Just because I stood up to Elena does not mean I agree with what you're doing. I stood up to her because I don't like her smothering. But I do agree with her in the sense of you need to stop with this bullshit. I get it. I lost them too, Jer. And if you don't want to talk, I get that too, but whenever you need to numb the pain or whatever your angst is telling you to do, come to me. Please. We don't have to talk, we can just sit in silence and just know that someone is there, that someone understands. Ok. I'm done with my speeches now. Don't brush off what I said, think about it. I love you, ok? You big idiot." I ruffled his hair and left him in the middle of the hallway.

* * *

Meanwhile, Elena was shocked that her sister said that to her. _Was she being too controlling? _ She was just trying to protect Jeremy. She turns around and leaves the bathroom when she runs into the new guy. The _hot _new guy.

"Uh, pardon me." They make eye contact. "Um… is this the men's restroom?" He asks.

"Yes. Um, I was just, um—I was just—it's a long story." They smile at each other. Then they do that cliché trying-to-step-around-each-other move that shows up in the movies. Stefan finally slides and allows her to go first. "Thank you." She says breathlessly.

"Once our home state of Virginia joined Confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state. People in Virginia's Northwest region had different ideals than-" Mr. Tanner's voice droned on as I sat there and doodled on my notebook. The one thing I hated about being in this world was that I had to relive high school.

I remember that in this scene Bonnie and Elena are texting about Stefan. I look towards my sister and find her and Stefan making googly eyes at each other. Elena suddenly looks at her phone to read Bonnie's text. I shake my head, she's not even bothering to hide it.

* * *

After school, Elena went to her parents' graveyard to write in her diary, "_Dear Diary, I made it through the day. I must have said 'I'm fine, thanks' at least 37 times and I didn't mean it once and no one noticed._ _When someone asks 'how are you?' they really don't want an answer._"

Suddenly, a fog and crow showed up, scaring her. She looks at the bird and sighs.

"Ok. Hi, bird. That's not creepy or anything." She mutters.

She scared off the bird but it started to get aggressive. She quickly grabbed her bag and started to walk away. She looked around suspiciously and started to run. She tripped and fell, causing her leg to bleed.

When she got up, she came face to face with Stefan. "You ok?" he asks.

"Were you following me?"

"No, I, uh, I just—I saw you fall."

"Uh-huh, and you just happened to be hanging out in a cemetery."

"I'm visiting. I uh, have family here."

"Oh. Wow. Tactless. I'm, uh, I'm sorry it's the fog and it's making me... foggy." Elena starts to use her hands as she got flustered. "And back there. There was this bird and it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the bird movie, right, the Hitchcock?" Stefan was trying to hide his smile, finding her rambling adorable. She laughs. "I'm Elena."

"I'm Stefan." He replied.

"I know. We have history together." She said.

"And English and French." He continued.

"Right." He notices a leaf stuck in her hair and reaches to pick it out. "Thanks. Nice ring." He looks down.

"Oh, uh, it's a family ring, yeah." He twirls the big dark blue ring with a crest on it with his fingers. "I'm kinda stuck with it. It's weird, huh?"

"No, no. it's just, I mean, there are rings and there's that." She chuckles. They stare at each other when Stefan sniffs the air and looks at her leg.

"Did you hurt yourself?" She looks down, crouches, and rolls up her pants.

"Oh, wow, look at that. That is not pretty." She laughs. She doesn't notice that Stefan had to look away and try to control himself. "Are you ok?"

"You should go." He says. "Take care of that." Elena rolls her pants back down and when she looks up, Stefan had disappeared.

* * *

_"I lost control today. Everything I've kept buried inside came rushing to the surface. I'm simply not able to resist her." _Stefan is at the boarding house, in his room as he writes in his journal. He stares at the wall and contemplates his next move. "_That girl that was with Elena. I don't know if she knows something of my past, but that comment she made about me having a brother has me on edge. I need to be more careful._"

* * *

At the Grill, Vickie is working her shift when Jeremy approaches her. "Working." She says to him and takes the plates of food over to her brother and her boyfriend.

"Thanks, Vick." Her brother says to her. She turns to look at Tyler and seductively says,

"Do you need another refill?" He grins.

"I'd love one." She grabs his cup and walks away. Matt stares at his best friend sternly.

"Please tell me you are not hooking up with my sister." Tyler stares at him.

"I'm not hooking up with your sister." Matt shakes his head as he dips his fries in ketchup.

"You're such a dick."

As Vickie approaches the bar, Jeremy starts following after her.

"Hey, what's your deal? I mean, summer you act one way and then school starts and you can't be bothered."

"Look, Jeremy, I really appreciate all the pharmaceuticals, but you can't keep following me around like a lost puppy." She starts to fill up Tyler's cup.

"When's the last time you had sex with a puppy?" She turns to him.

"Hey, keep it down, I don't want the town to know I deflowered Elena and Ophelia's kid brother." She turns back to the cup but Jeremy persisted.

"Yeah, and deflowered and deflowered."

"We hooked up a few times in a drug haze. It's over. You gotta back off before you ruin things between me and Tyler." Jeremy scoffs.

"Oh, come on, the guy's a total douche. He only wants you for your ass." She sighs and turns to him.

"Yeah? And what do you want me for?" She walks past him with Tyler's cup in hand.

* * *

Caroline, Bonnie, and I walk into the Grill as Caroline starts to talk about Stefan Salvatore.

"His name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with his uncle up at the old Salvatore boarding house. He hasn't lived there since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a Gemini and his favorite color is blue." We finally made it to a table as Caroline finishes talking with a dreamy sigh. Bonnie looks at her in disbelief.

"You got all of that in one day?"

"Oh, please, I got all of that between third and fourth period. We're planning a June wedding." I laugh.

"I bet you haven't even talked to the guy." Caroline gave me a glare. She huffed and turned away to say hi to other people.

"So, where's your sister anyway?" Bonnie asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know she's probably getting ready at home." I said, knowing that she is chatting it up with Stefan.

* * *

"I'm meeting Bonnie and Ophelia at the Grill." Elena told Jenna as she was heading to the door with her jacket in hand.

"Kay, have fun. Wait. I've got this. Don't stay out late, it's a school night." Elena giggles at Jenna's parenting.

"Well done, Aunt Jenna." As Elena opens the front door, she runs face first into Stefan. "Oh!"

"Sorry, I was about to knock. I wanted to apologize for my disappearing act earlier. I know it was... strange."

"No worries. I get it, blood makes you squeamish." They both chuckle, but for different reasons.

"Uh, yeah, something like that. How's your leg?" He asked, gesturing to her leg.

"Oh, it's fine just a scratch, barely. Uh, how did you know where I lived?"

"It's a small town, I asked the first person I saw. I thought you might want this back." Stefan pulls out Elena's green diary from his bag.

"Oh, I must have dropped it! I—thank you."

"Don't worry, I didn't... read it."

"No?" She laughs. "Why not? Most people would have."

"Well, I wouldn't want anyone to read mine."

"You keep a journal?"

"Yeah, if I don't write it down, I forget it. Memories are too important." They share an intense look.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna. Um, you don't have to stay out there." Elena turns to go inside. Stefan remains outside and looks at the outline of the doorway.

"I'm fine." Elena peaks around the corner to look at Stefan. "Sorry, were you going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm meeting my friend and my sister. Do you want to come?" He grins at her.

* * *

"How's Elena doing?" Matt asks me. I open my mouth to make a smartass comment about how he cares for her more than me when Bonnie interjects.

"Their mom and dad died. How do you think? She's putting on a good face, but it's only been four months." I nod.

"Bonnie's right. I mean she's psychic after all." Bonnie lightly shoves me and I giggle. Matt ignores that and continues with his interrogation.

"Has she said anything about me?" I sigh obnoxiously.

"Oh no. We are not getting in the middle, Matt. You pick up the phone and call her because Bonnie and I will not be your messenger pigeons."

"I feel weird calling her. She broke up with me." He confesses.

"Give it more time, Matt." Bonnie says. I stifle my laugh by taking a sip of my water because I know what's coming next. Elena walks into the Grill with Stefan in tow.

"More time, huh?" Matt gets up and walks up to them. Everybody who knows about the drama between Elena and Matt watch with bated breaths to see Matt's move. Matt being the sweet guy I know he is, introduces himself to Stefan.

"Hey, I'm Matt, nice to meet you." Stefan shakes his hand and smiles.

"Hi. Stefan." Matt looks at Elena.

"Hey."

"Hey." I smile grimly. Poor Matt. I break up the awkward tension by yelling at Elena.

"Yo, Lena! Bring that fine piece of ass over here and introduce us properly!" Elena blushes as Stefan chuckles and they walk over to our table. Caroline, not wanting to be out of the loop quickly joins our table and starts to question Stefan.

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" I lean forward putting my elbows on the table and stare intently at Stefan, trying to remember what he said in the show. He nodded.

"Mm-hmm. And moved when I was still young."

"Parents?"

"My parents passed away." He then looked at Elena.

"I'm sorry." She said. "Any siblings?" At that question I smirked and waited for the answer I already knew. Stefan glimpsed at me and I quickly changed my expression to one of curiosity. He licked his lips nervously and smiled charmingly to Elena.

"None that I talk to. I live with my uncle."

"So that means you do have siblings. You just don't talk to them? Shouldn't a tragedy brings siblings closer together not further apart?" I ask. Everybody looks at me.

"Ophelia!" Elena scolds me. I shrug innocently.

"What? It's just a question. He doesn't have to answer it if he doesn't want to. Don't be so touchy Elena. I'm just trying to get to know the new guy." Stefan chuckles and smiles somewhat somberly.

"It's ok, Elena. Well, to answer, your question, sometimes, a tragedy is just that, a tragedy. Nothing good can come out of it."

"Au contraire, dear Stefan, I think tragedies makes someone stronger and wiser. Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, as long as someone remembers to turn on the light." Everyone stared at me. Suddenly the table burst out laughing.

"Did you just quote Harry Potter?" Bonnie giggled. I pout.

"I thought it was a good quote!" I sneak a peek at Stefan and he was studying me intently. I give him a half-smile and wink at him. Before any more can be said, Caroline steals the spotlight once again, trying to get Stefan to pay attention to her.

"So, Stefan, if you're new then you don't know about the party tomorrow."

"It's a back to school thing here at the Falls." Bonnie says. Stefan looks at Elena.

"Are you going?"

"Of course she is." Bonnie and I answer for her. Elena gives us a side look that was supposed to be scolding, but it didn't have any heat behind it. She tucks her hair behind her ear and looks coyly at Stefan.

"Apparently I am." Everybody cheers. We finish up our drinks and start to say our goodbyes and head home for the night.

* * *

At the boarding house, Zach walks in to Stefan's' room. He was in his early to mid-thirties with dark brown hair and stubble. He had a newspaper in his hand.

"You promised." He shoves the paper at a confused Stefan. On it shows the dead couple that was attacked by a vampire. The heading said 'BODIES FOUND MUTILATED BY AN ANIMAL'. Stefan shakes his head.

"This was an animal attack."

"Don't give me that. I know the game. You tear them up enough, the always suspect an animal attack. You said you had it under control." Stefan hands the paper back.

"And I do."

"Please, Uncle Stefan. Mystic Falls is a different place now. It's been quiet for years, but there are people who still remember. And you being here, it's just gonna stir things up."

"It's not my intention."

"Then, what is it? Why'd you come back? After all this time, why now?"

"I don't have to explain myself."

"I know that you can't change what you are. But you don't belong here anymore."

"Where do I belong?" Stefan questions.

"I can't tell you what to do. But coming back here was a mistake." Zach turns around and throws the newspaper on the bed and walks out of the room. Stefan walks over to a dresser and grabs a worn out journal. He opens it, and inside, there is a picture of a girl who looks exactly like Elena, except underneath it, there is a name and date.

'Katherine 1864'.

* * *

The next day in History class, Mr. Tanner is giving a lecture on the Battle of Willow Creek.

"It took place right at the end of the war, in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle? Ms. Bennett?" Bonnie looks up from her notebook.

"Um... a lot? I'm not sure. Like a whole lot."

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant Ms. Bennett. Mr. Donovan? Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?" Matt smile goofily.

"It's ok Mr. Tanner. I'm cool with it." There were a couple of chuckles.

"Hmm. Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events?" Elena looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"I'm sorry, I—I don't know."

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena, but the personal excuses ended in summer break." That made me snap. I forgot how much of a dick Mr. Tanner was, I'm glad he'll be gone soon. I remembered this part in the episode and before I even realized it, Stefan and I spoke at the exact same time.

"There were 346 casualties, unless you're counting local civilians." Everybody turned to look at us. I just so happened to be sitting in front of Stefan. Mr. Tanner turned to both of us.

"That's correct. Ms. Gilbert, Mr?"

"Salvatore."

"Salvatore, any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?"

"Distant." I tried to hide my giggle, but I was so close to Stefan that I know he heard it. I felt his gaze at my back.

"Well, very good. Both of you. Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle."

"Actually, Mr. Tanner, there were. 27, to be exact." I looked behind me. "Right, Stefan?" I looked at me in surprise.

"Right. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. And they were wrong. It was a night of great loss."

"The founder's archives are stored in the Civil Hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts. Mr. Tanner." I mutter. I guess I didn't mutter quietly enough, because some kids laughed in shock.

* * *

We were all at the Falls for the night. Earlier that day, I managed to find vervain and bought a whole bouquet of them. I bought necklaces and bracelets. I even bought some seeds so I could plant and harvest them myself. I currently was wearing vervain and I ingested some before leaving. I was planning on giving the rest of my family it tomorrow.

Elena, Bonnie, and I were currently in front of the bonfire when Bonnie started to tease Elena about Stefan.

"Just admit it, Elena." Bonnie whines.

"Oh, ok, so he's a little pretty." She concedes.

"And he has that romance novel stare. Stefan looked deep into her eyes, compelling her very soul" I mock Elena, but also triggering Stefan with my choice of words. She shoves me and laughs.

"Shut it."

"So, where is he?" Bonnie asked.

"I don't know."

"I think Caroline got a hold of him." I said and took a sip from my cheap beer. "Wait better, yet, let's have Bonnie try to find him. She is the psychic one."

"Riiiight, I forgot. Ok, gimmie a sec, Grams says I have to concentrate."

"Wait, you need a crystal ball." Elena said. I looked around and found an empty beer bottle on the floor. I handed it to Elena, who handed it to Bonnie. Before Elena could let go, Bonnie touched the bottle and got a vision.

She looked at Elena intensely. Elena looked confused.

"What?" Bonnie quickly let go.

"That was weird. When I touched you, I saw a crow." Elena was getting kind of scared.

"What?"

"A crow." Bonnie repeated, she squinted trying to remember what else. "There was fog, a man." Bonnie snapped out of it. "I'm drunk. It's the drinking there's nothing psychic about it." Elena kept staring at Bonnie. "Yeah? Ok, I'm gonna go get a refill." Bonnie quickly leaves Elena and me alone. We turn around and there is Stefan.

"Hi."

"Hi." Elena laughs.

"Hello!" I interject. Elena turns to look at me. I raise my hands in surrender. "Well, I'm gonna go... over there!" I awkwardly leave. I start to roam around the party inspecting the drunk, horny teenagers. What I would kill to get some actually alcohol instead of some watered down beer. I stayed within hearing range.

"I did it again, didn't I?" Stefan asked. Elena nodded.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"You're upset about something." I scoff.

"No, shit Sherlock." I mutter. I was far enough from them that Elena couldn't hear me, but Stefan was a different case. I think I saw him turn a little red from embarrassment. I hid my laughter with a cough. Oblivious Elena started to talk.

"No, it's just Bonnie. She's... You know what? Never mind. You're... here."

"I'm here." He repeats. I gag. Man, even their flirting was boring. I get up from my position on the log and go get another bottle of beer. I leave them be and try to find Jeremy because serious shit is going to happen in the next few minutes. I walked into the woods and I found Jeremy with Vickie when she suddenly storms away. Before Jeremy could storm after her, I grabbed his arm.

"Just let her cool off, Jer." He sighed and nodded. We slowly started walking the way she ran off to. We heard a scream. We looked at each other and ran over to where we heard it.

"Vickie? Vickie it's us Jeremy and Ophelia!" I yell. Jeremy ran ahead of me. "Jeremy, wait! Be careful!" I catch up to Jeremy and I find him kneeling in front of an unconscious and bleeding Vickie. "Holy shit!" I whisper. It was different seeing it live than in TV. Jeremy is frozen in fear. "Jer, hey Jer! Come on we have to get her to an ambulance. We can't do that if you don't help me carry her." That snapped him out of it.

We quickly, but carefully picked her up and started to run as fast as possible without irritating her injuries too much. "Help. Somebody please help!" Jeremy yelled, just as we made it to the clearing full of people. Everybody turned and stared at us.

"Vickie? Vickie, what the hell!" Matt yelled as he saw his sister in our arms. I look around at the people frozen in shock.

"Well? Isn't anybody going to call the fucking ambulance? Or do you wanna let her die?" Nobody moved. I sighed in irritation. "Somebody call the ambulance. NOW!" I yelled so loudly that people jumped in fear. Immediately people sprang into action. Most cleaned up the alcohol and packed the trash in their cars, while others took care of their drunk friends. Elena was the one to call the ambulance. By the time the ambulance was here, there was no trace of alcohol and those who were obviously drunk were either taken home, or taken somewhere they could sober up.

Vickie was lifted into an ambulance truck and Matt was in the back with her. Bonnie walked up to Elena and me.

"Hey, we're gonna go mainline coffee, wait for news." Elena and I nodded.

"We gotta take Jeremy home."

"Elena, there's no way I'm psychic. I know that. But whatever I saw, or think I saw, I have this feeling..."

"Bonnie, what?"

"That it's just the beginning." Elena and I looked at her in shock. It's way more intense in person than it was on TV. I see Jeremy standing near the cars with a blanket wrapped around his frame. I excuse myself from the intense conversation and make my way towards him.

"Elena called Jenna, she's on her way." Jeremy nodded. I rubbed my hand on his shoulder and he relaxed a little bit. Elena made her way towards us.

"Hey Jer, you ok?" He looked away from Elena and ignored her. We all stood in an uncomfortable silence as we waited for Jenna to come to the rescue.

* * *

Stefan ran to the boarding house and he entered the front door in a hurry. Zach was sitting at his desk when he saw his uncle enter.

"What's going on?" Zach asked.

"Someone else was attacked tonight, Zach, and it wasn't me. Stefan ran up the stairs to his room. The balcony door was open and sitting on the banister was a black crow. Realization dawned on Stefan, but it was too late for him to react. "Damon."

"Hello, brother." Said a devilishly handsome man with an equally devilish smirk.

"Crow's a bit much, don't you think?"

"Wait 'til you see what I can do with the fog."

"When'd you get here?"

"Well, I couldn't miss your first day at school." Damon said as he looked around at the cluttered room. He grabbed bit and baubles that Stefan had collected throughout the years. "Your hair's different. I like it."

"It's been 15 years, Damon."

"Thank god. I couldn't take another day of the nineties. That horrible grunge look?" Damon laughed at the memory. "Did not suit you. Remember, Stefan, it's important to stay away from fads." Stefan was slowly getting riled up.

"Why are you here?"

"I miss my little brother."

"You hate small towns. It's boring, there's nothing for you to do." Damon continues to walk around.

"I've managed to keep myself busy."

"Y'know you left that girl alive tonight. That's very clumsy of you."

"Ah, that can be a problem... for you." Damon smirks.

"Why are you here now?" Stefan continues to glare at his brother.

"I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up all into one little word... Elena. She took my breath away. Elena. She's a dead ringer for Katherine. Is it working, Stefan? Being around her? Being in her world? Does it make you feel alive?" Damon started getting closer to Stefan.

"She's not Katherine."

"Well, let's hope not, because we all know how that turned out. Tell me something, when's the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel?"

"I know what you're doing, Damon. It's not gonna work." Stefan scoffs. He starts to turn away from Damon. Damon quickly shoves Stefan.

"Yeah? Come on. Don't you crave a little?"

"Stop it." Another shove.

"Let's do it together. I saw a couple girls out there." Another shove. "Or just, let's just cut to the chase, let's just go straight for Elena!" Stefan pushes Damon.

"Stop it!"

"Imagine what her blood tastes like!" Stefan immediately turns around, trying to control his vampire side. "I can." Damon continues. Stefan went full on vampire and turns back to his brother.

"I said STOP!" He tackles Damon out the window and down two stories to the ground. As soon as Stefan got up, Damon was nowhere to be found. Stefan struggled to get up from the ground.

"I was impressed." Damon spoke out as he casually leaned against a bush. "I give it a six. Missing style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the whole face—" Damon mocks Stefan's vampire face. "—thing. It was good." He chuckled.

"You know, it's all fun and games, Damon, huh? But wherever you go, people die." Damon looks confused.

"That's a given."

"Not here. I won't allow it." Damon looks at Stefan.

"I take that as an invitation."

"Damon, please. After all these years, can't we just give it a rest?"

"I promised you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word."

"Just stay away from Elena." Damon looks at Stefan's hand.

"Where's your ring?" Stefan looks down and finds his finger bare. Damon inhales sharply.

"Oh, yeah, sun's coming up in a couple of hours and, poof, ashes to ashes." Damon chuckles. "Relax. It's right here." Damon hold out the ring on the palm of his hand. When Stefan puts it on, Damon grabs Stefan by the neck and throws him against the shed. "You should know better than to think you're stronger than me. You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people." Stefan was groaning on the ground as Damon stood over him. "I wouldn't try it again. I think we woke Zach up. Hmm. Sorry, Zach." Damon starts walking to the house whistling joyfully.

* * *

Caroline and Bonnie were at the Grill, both nursing a coffee.

"Are you sober?" Bonnie asked. Caroline ran her fingers through her hair in thought. She groaned.

"No."

"Keep drinking. I gotta get you home. I gotta get me home."

"Why didn't he go for me?" Caroline suddenly spoke up. "You know, how come the guys that I want, never want me?" Bonnie shakes her head.

"I'm not touching that." Caroline continued on as if Bonnie never spoke.

"I'm inappropriate. I always say the wrong thing. And... Elena always says the right thing. God. She doesn't even try and he just picks her. And she's always the one that everyone picks, for everything. And I try so hard, and... I'm never the one."

"It's not a competition, Caroline." Caroline stares at Bonnie for a couple of seconds.

"Yeah, it is." She finally says.

* * *

Matt is seated next to his sister's hospital bed. She is still unconscious from her wounds and from the medicine, but she was clean and wrapped up. He stares at her face when she suddenly wakes up, scared.

"Sh, shh, hey Vickie, it's ok you're safe. It's me, Matt. You're in the hospital." She whimpers as tears start to gather in her eyes. She grabs onto Matt's arms tightly and stares straight into his eyes as she whimpers one word.

"Vampire."

* * *

Elena and Stefan were both writing in their journals about their day.

"_Dear Diary, I couldn't have been more wrong. I thought that I could smile and nod my way through it; pretend that it would all be ok._" Elena sat at her bay window curled around her diary.

"_I had a plan I wanted to change who I was. Create a life as someone new, someone without the past._" Stefan wrote, as he looked over the photo of Katherine.

"_Without the pain._" Elene continued on.

"_Someone alive._" They both wrote.

"_But it's not that easy. The bad things stay with you."_ Elena scribbled.

"_They follow you._" Stefan continued. "_You can't escape them, as much as you want to._"

"_All you can do is be ready for the good. So when it comes, you invite it in, because you need it. I need it._" Elena stops writing and gazes out the window. Below, she sees Stefan waiting outside. She scrambles off the window and rushes down the stairs to open the door for him.

"I know it's late. But, uh... I needed to know that you're ok." Stefan told her.

"You know, for months that's what anyone has wondered about me. If I'll be ok." She thought out loud.

"What do you tell them?"

"That I'll be fine." He stares at her.

"Do you ever mean it?"

"Ask me tomorrow." She pauses. "It's warmer in the house. We can talk." She steps aside. "Would you like to come in?" It was Stefan's turn to pause. He smiles.

"Yes." He takes a slow step through the threshold. And Elena closes the door behind him.


	2. The Night of the Comet

This couple is camping out in the middle of the forest. They're making out inside their tent. As the man takes a breath between kisses, the girl pauses and looks up.

"Hey, did you hear that?" He looks down at her.

"Hear what?" He questions.

"I heard thunder." She said adamantly.

"There's no thunder." He responds.

"Are you sure?" She kisses him briefly. "Because if it rains, then we won't be able to see the comet-"

"It's not gonna rain." He interrupts her. "Listen, I… got you a little something. It's back in the car." She nods at him as he starts getting ready to get up and leave the tent. "Don't you move." He said.

"Mm-mm." She shakes her head. He nods and leans in to kiss her one, two, three times before he gets up and out of the tent.

"Stay dry!" She says.

"It's not gonna rain!" He laughs. She lets out a satisfied sigh. Suddenly a thud is heard and drops of liquid splash onto the tent. She hears it, shakes her head, and laughs.

"I knew it!" She gets up out of the tent and flashes her flashlight outside. "I told you it was gonna rain!" The dripping continues. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion when she realized that it wasn't actually raining. She then looks up to see what's causing the drops. She then turns around slowly towards the tent and shines the flashlight at the trees and finds her boyfriend lying on the branches, dead. His blood dripping on the tent.

She yells and starts running towards the truck parked a few feet away from them. She pulls at the passenger side door and finds it locked. She gets desperate and starts banging at the window.

"Open! No! Please!" When suddenly the car chirps and the door unlocks. She turns around and looks up when something attacks her from above. Her scream echoed through the dark woods.

* * *

"_Dear diary," _Elena writes in her journal, "_this morning is… different. There's change. I can sense it. Feel it." _

"_I'm awake. For the first time in a long time, I feel completely and undeniably wide awake." _Stephan continues in his. Elena sits up and throws her feet off the side of the bed and stares out her window.

"_For once, I don't regret the day before it begins." _She writes. Stephen gets up out of his bed, shirtless, and walks toward his window, staring outside as well.

"_I welcome the day…" _He writes.

"_Because I know…" _they both write.

"_I will see him again. For the first time in a long time, I feel good." _She finishes writing on her bay window, already dressed for the day in a dark teal sweater and jeans.

I blink awake and stare at the ceiling that looks so foreign but so familiar at the same time. It's disconcerting having two separate memories. Two different beings in one body. Today will be the second day I've been brought to this world and I still can't seem to understand why. I finally get up and get ready.

I walk out at the same time as Elena, noticing how differently we dress. Her, in her sensible clothing, and me, in my ripped jeans and tied band t-shirt (the Beatles, if you wanted to know). While her hair was down, my hair was up in a messy bun with some hairs framing my face.

Before I could say good morning, Jenna walks up to us a knee length dark purple dress that hugged her curves nicely. "Oh, do I look adult? As in respectfully parental?" She touches Elena's arm. I whistle.

"You look sexy Aunt Jen." They both roll their eyes at me and turn back to look at each other. I pout at being ignored.

"Depends where you're going." Elena responded. We all turned towards the stairs, but stop in front of a mirror. Jenna fusses with her curly shoulder length hair.

"Jeremy's parent-teacher conference." She grabs her red hair and twists it up. "Hair up or down?"

"Sexy stewardess." I say. She lets her hair down. "Boozy housewife." She scoffs.

"Up it is… You're feisty today." I roll my eyes.

"I'm always feisty, but I feel good, which is rare. So I've decided to go with it." I replied.

"Fly free, walk on sunshine, and all the stuff." Elena says.

"Exactly sis! You're getting it." She peeks at Jeremy's room.

"Where's Jeremy." I look and see the empty room.

"He left early. Something about getting to wood shop early to finish a birdhouse." Jenna is still fumbling around with her clothes and hair when she notices Elena and I give her disbelieving looks. "There is no wood shop, is there?" She says.

"No" we both say consolingly.

"Yeah." She nods acceptingly. I didn't say much because I knew that Jeremy actually went to see Vicki while she's in the hospital. I smile softly, thinking about how much Jeremy cares for Vickie. My smile slowly drops when I realize that Jeremy is going to lose her all too soon.

* * *

"Originally discovered nearly 5 centuries ago, it hasn't been over Mystic Falls in over 145 years. Now, the comet will be its brightest right after dusk during tomorrow's celebration." Mr. Tanner drones on and on about the comet. I scoff when I notice Stephen and Elena ogling each other from across the room. I gag loudly in disgust and they both turn to glare at me, while I look at them innocently.

"Are we bothering you, Mr. Salvatore?" Mr. Tanner suddenly says. Stephen looks up at him. Mr. Tanner then looks at Elena. "Ms. Gilbert?" I cough to hide my laughter when Elena shakes her head. When he turns around, she shoots me glare and I stick my tongue out at her. Just then, the school bell rings, signaling the end of my torture, I mean, history class.

I walk behind Elena and Stephan, when Stephen takes out a book from his bag. "I brought it. Told you." I shove myself in between them and grab the book. Elena made a sound of annoyance from cock blocking her.

"_Wuthering Heights _by _Ellis Bell._" I read the title. Elena snatches the book from my hand and looks it over front and back.

"You know, I can't believe she didn't use her real name." Elena said.

"All the Bronte sisters used pseudonyms. It was the time." Stephen said.

"You would know all about that wouldn't you Stephen?" I couldn't help myself. Messing with Stephen was too much fun. Now I know why Damon did it so much. He immediately grew tense and his head snapped to my direction.

"What do you mean by that?" He said accusingly.

"Nothing, just that you seem to know a lot of history facts." I blinked at him innocently. He blinked at me a couple times and relaxed a little.

"Right. Of course." He huffed a laugh. He cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Yeah, well, female writers weren't very accepted then."

"Where did you get it?" Elena said as she stared daggers at me and handed the book back to Stephen. '_Stop scaring him away!' _Her glare said to me. I pouted back. She's no fun. Such a buzzkill. I huffed and stood back to let them walk together again.

"Uh, it was passed down. Through the family" He responded. I tried, but failed, to keep in my snort of amusement. He and Elena stopped and turned to each other. He gave me a suspicious look.

"Well look at the time! Gotta-Go-To-Class-Bye!" I said quickly, before I made Stephen even more suspicious than he already was. As I was walking away, I heard Stephen tell Elena he had plenty of books and for her to keep it. Elena took it and promised to give it back.

I ran into Bonnie and Caroline as they were walking inside. "I'm confused." Caroline said. "Are you psychic or clairvoyant?"

"Hey guys! What's up?" I chime in.

"Hey Lia! Nothing, just catching Caroline up with what grams told me. Technically, she says I'm a witch. My ancestors are these really cool Salem witch chicks or something. Grams tried to explain it all, but she was looped on the liquor so I kinda tuned it out. Crazy family, yes. Witches? I don't think so." I shake my head.

"Don't be so quick to ignore what your grams says Bonnie. She's a wise woman. No matter how crazy she sounds, listen to her. Learn from her. It's important." I say sternly. Bonnie and Caroline gave me weird looks. Before I could say anything else, Caroline changed the subject back to her.

"Yeah, well, feel free to conjure up the name and number of that guy from last night."

"I didn't see him. You did." Bonnie said. I sigh. I forgot that Damon's in town. And it's not the nice Damon either, it's the big bad Damon. Fuck. Good thing I have vervain.

"Why didn't you talk to him?" I asked.

"I don't know. I was drunk." We all burst out in giggles.

* * *

Jeremy and Tyler get into a confrontation. Jeremy asking Tyler questions about Vickie, trying to act all big and bad, and Tyler acting like a douche. Sounds about right. I know Jeremy walks away from it, so I don't have to worry about having to kick Tyler Lockwood's fine ass to a pulp. I catch up to Elena and Matt and he fills us in on what's going on with Vickie.

"They're keeping her overnight to make sure there's no infection, but she should be able to come home tomorrow." Matt said, solemnly.

"That's good news!" I say and pinch Matt's cheeks, forcing him into a smile. He slaps my hands away and rubs his jaw, with a small smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"Did you get in touch with your mom?" Elena asks, the Debbie downer.

"Called and left a message. She's in Virginia Beach with her boyfriend, so… we'll see how long it takes her to come rushing home." Matt replies.

"Vickie's so lucky that she's ok." Elena sighs.

"Yeah, it's thanks to Jeremy and I's big guns and fast legs." I flex at them. The laugh and push me.

"Yeah, I know. And now there's talk of some missing campers." Matt said. I noticed Stephen hearing into the conversation from a distance. I rolled my eyes. Damn vampire hearing. I'm just glad they can't read minds.

"Did she say what kind of animal it was that attacked her?" Elena asked.

"She said it was a vampire."

"What?" Elena asked. I burst out laughing. I couldn't help it. This shit was too funny.

"Yeah, she wakes up last night and mutters 'Vampire' and then passes out." Matt lets out a little laugh.

"Ok. that is weird." Elena says.

"Well no shit." I scoff. "But, I mean, come on. How does the bite look like. Because from what I could tell, it didn't look like an animal. If it were, her whole body would be messed up, not just her neck." I said. Matt nodded thoughtfully.

"You're right. But what else could it be? Don't tell me you honestly believe that it was a 'Vampire'." He said. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Never say never."

"Oh come off it, Lia. You're being ridiculous." I shake my head at the naivete.

"I think she was drunk." Matt interjects, before Elena and I get into our famous Gilbert spats. "So… what's up with you and the new guy?" He asks. We all turn to look at Stephen's back.

"Matt, the last thing I want to do is hurt you." Matt looks away. I slap her in the arm and glare at her.

"That is exactly what you DON'T say, stupid." I whisper quickly before Matt turns back. Elena simply looked confused. Poor, stupid, little twin sister.

"I'm actually gonna go back to the hospital. I wanna be there when Vickie wakes up. Get the real story about what happened last night." Matt said.

"I'll go with you! Since I'm the Gilbert who _didn't _break your heart." Elena looked hurt.

"Ok." She turned and walked away. I looked at Matt. He simply, stared at her retreating form. I sigh. Poor Matt.

* * *

"As Jeremy's teacher, I'm concerned. All right? It's the third day of school and he's skipped six of his classes." Mr. Tanner stood leaning in front of his desk as aunt Jenna sat in one of the student desks in front of him. She leans on the desk and intertwines her fingers.

"Mr. Tanner," she begins. "Are you aware that Jeremy, Elena, and Ophelia's parents died?" He nods his head.

"4 months ago, a great loss. Car accident. Wickery bridge, if I remember correctly. And you're related to the family how?" Mr. Tanner pulls out a file and looks through it. "The, uh, Mother's kid sister?"

"Younger sister." She corrects.

"Right." He mutters.

"Yes." She leans back in her seat. "Six classes? Are you sure?" She rubs the back of her neck nervously. "I mean, that's kind of hard to do." Mr. Tanner shakes his head.

"Not when you're on drugs. It's his attempt at coping, Ms. Summers. And the signs are there. He's moody, withdrawn, argumentative, hungover." Jenna leans back in shock. "Are there any other relatives in the picture?" Mr. Tanner continues.

"I'm their sole guardian." Jenna responds.

"Uh-huh. Could there be?" He persists. Jenna stares at him blankly.

"What are you suggesting, exactly?"

"It's an impossible job, isn't it, raising three teens?" He explains. Jenna shakes her head as tears collected in her eyes.

"It's been tough, but, no, it's not."

"Wrong answer." Mr. Tanner interrupts. "It is an extremely impossible job, and anything less and you're not doing it properly." Jenna takes a deep breath. She tries to think of what to say back, but she's left speechless.

* * *

Stephen strolls into the hospital looking for Vickie's room. He quickly hides in a doorway as soon as he sees Matt and I walking down the hallway. Honestly, he's not fooling anybody. Matt and I walk in to find the bed empty. We turn around and Vickie is standing behind us with a thousand mile stare.

"Woah! Vick. Vickie, hey." I say, kinda freaked out.

"Vick, it's Matt. Hey, what's wrong?" Matt grabs her by the shoulders and she suddenly starts to yell.

"No! No! Get off!" She kicks and screams and Matt grabs her by the mid section and lifts her off the ground. Matt turns around to get a nurse.

"Nurse!" I follow behind Matt because I did not want to be left alone in a room with a screaming Vickie.

Stefan rushes into the room, holds Vickie down on the bed and starts to compel her. "It was an animal that attacked you. It came out of the night and jumped you. You blacked out. It's all you remember."

"It's all I remember." Vickie repeats.

"An animal attacked you. You blacked out. It's all you remember." Stefan says again.

"It's all I remember." Vickie says as she falls asleep. Matt and I finally get to a nurse.

"Nurse, I need help. It's my sister." The nurse rushes with us to the room and we find Vickie fast asleep.

"She seems fine to me." The nurse responds. Matt turns around just in time to catch a glimpse of Stefan. To avoid the pointless chase scene, I grab Matt by his jacket.

"That's so weird. She was screaming just a second ago." Distracted, Matt responds.

"Yeah. Weird." I turn to Matt.

"I think you should sit and take a nap. You're probably exhausted and stressed from all of this and you need to rest. I'll leave you be, but keep me updated. Elena is probably at the Grill with the girls, so I'll pop by." I look at him sternly. "Rest." He sighs and nods.

"Yeah. You're right. I'll see you later Ophelia." I nod and turn to go. "Ophelia?" I turn to look at him. "Thank you." He said sincerely. I smiled and left.

* * *

"Well, I was talking to Grams, and she said the comet is a sign of impending doom. The last time it passed over mystic falls, there was lots of death. So much blood and carnage, it created a bed of paranormal activity." Bonnie said to Elena and Caroline as the three girls sat outside of the Mystic Grill.

"Yeah, and then you poured Grams another shot and she told you about the aliens." Caroline said sarcastically. Elena and Bonnie looked at each other. Caroline then turned her attention to Elena as I walked up behind her. "So then what?"

"So then nothing." Elena said.

"You and Stefan _talked _all night? There was no sloppy first kiss, or touchy feely of any kind?" Caroline persisted.

"Nope. They didn't go there. I would know. I could hear them talking _all night. _Like did you guys even sleep?" I sigh as I plop myself between Elena and Bonnie. Caroline and Bonnie giggled as Elena rolled her eyes at me.

"_Yes. _We slept. But Lia's right. We didn't even go there." Caroline leans back from her arms.

"Not even a handshake? I mean, Elena, we are your friends. Ok? You are supposed to share the _smut._"

"We just talked for hours."

"And hours and hours." I interject and I get ignored. Again.

"Ok. What is with the blockage? Just jump his bones already!" I nod.

"Ok, it's easy. Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy. Sex." I smile as I do crude hand signals. Elena swats at my hands. Caroline laughs and Bonnie chokes on her water.

"See! Ophelia's got it!" Caroline gestures to me. Elena grabs a pamphlet and folds it as she sarcastically says,

"Profound." She stops and ponders for a second and then starts to grab her jacket.

"Where are you going?" Bonnie asks.

I perk up. "Is it to see Stefan? Please tell me it's to see Stefan?" I raise my hand. "Oh! Can I come with! Can I please come with!" Elena rolls her eyes.

"Caroline and Ophelia are right. It is easy. If I sit here long enough, I'll end up talking myself out of it." Caroline and I share a smug look. "Instead of doing what I started the day saying I was gonna do." She turns around and walks away. I jump up and run behind her, turning around to give Caroline and Bonnie a smile and two thumbs up.

* * *

"I picked up dinner. Tacos. I had an urge for guacamole." Jenna said to Jeremy as he walked in the kitchen to grab his jacket.

"No. I'm good. Thanks."

"Eat anyway. It's a ruse. I want to talk" she gestures him to sit down. He ignores her and continues to walk to the door. "Hey you! Come. Sit." She points at the chair. He slowly walks to a chair and sits down she looks at him sternly.

"Back in school, freshman year, I could eat my weight in nachos, with extra cheese." she says as she leans against the counter towards him. "It was my munchie food whenever I got stoned."

"You get high?" Jeremy said with a smile.

"Did." Jenna corrects. "Past tense. But yeah. Loved it. Anything to get a little distraction from life… reality." Jenna starts to open different containers of guacamole and sour cream. "And it worked. For a while. Never lasts though." She walks away to a cabinet. Jeremy's smile drops. He clenches his jaw.

"Hey. I'm not saying I wouldn't love to rail back and kick it, but with a thesis looming and a waistline expanding…" Jeremy quietly gets up and leaves without Jenna knowing. Jenna turns around and sees him walk out the door. She sighs.

* * *

Vickie is messing with her food while Matt is asleep on the visitor chair. She looks over and sees him snoring, so she grabs jello cup and throws it at him. Matt startles awake.

"What the-" He starts to sit up.

"Finally you're awake." Vickie chuckles.

"Hey. How are you feeling? You look better. I was worried before. You really had me freaked out with all that screaming."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Vickie interrupts Matt.

"You don't remember?" Matt leans his forearms on his thighs as he looks at Vickie. She looks at him weirdly.

"I feel fine." She shrugs. Matt stares at her for a couple seconds then nods his head and leans back in the chair.

"Good. Good. Doctor said you could come home tomorrow." Vickie smiles and Matt continues to stare at her. He takes a deep breath and asks, "Vick what attacked you in the woods?" Vickie grows shifty and looks slightly confused.

"An animal. What else could it have been?" Before Matt could say anything else, Jeremy walks into the room.

"Hey. How do you feel?" Jeremy crosses his arms in front of his chest. Vickie stares at him in slight infatuation.

"I'm ok." Matt gets uncomfortable and gets up from the chair.

"I-I'm gonna- I'm gonna go grab a coffee. Hey, Jer." As Matt leaves the room, Jer takes more steps into the room.

"Why are you here?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Did you see that look on Matt's face? That was suspicion. I don't want people to find out about us, Jeremy."

"Well, you gotta get over that."

"Tyler is finally showing some interest."

"You have to get over that too. Do you see Mr. Concerned?" Jeremy starts to look under the bed. "Tyler? Are you under there?" Vickie giggles. "No."

"It's not cool for people to know. Ok? I'm older than you, and Matt and Elena would freak."

"No one's going to suspect anything. Why wouldn't I check on you? I mean, I was the one who found you." Vickie looks shocked.

"You are?"

"Yeah, I carried you out of the woods." Vickie looks at him gratefully.

"Thank you."

"Yeah. You're welcome." They stare at each other intently as Vickie smiles at Jeremy.

* * *

Elena and I walk up to the Salvatore boarding house. She rings the doorbell and I roll my eyes. I push past her and go to open the door. The door slowly creaks open.

"Ophelia!" Elena reprimands me hushedly. I scoff.

"What? It was unlocked." We both slowly walk into the silent house.

"Stefan?" Elena calls out. We walk into the foyer and we see a messenger bag. "Stefan?" Elena fries again.

"I think the silence means he's not here Elena. Honestly, why didn't you text him first before coming here? Now I gotta drive us back. Do you know how expensive gas is nowadays!" I huff at Elena, full well knowing Damon is about to pop up somewhere. We hear a creak and turn around to see the front door wide open. Elena and I take a couple steps to go close the door when a crow comes flying in. Elena and I take a couple of steps back and run into a body. I go into attack mode.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" I turn around and punch whoever's behind me (which I totally know is Damon).

"Fuck." Damon curses as my fist met his jaw.

"You don't fucking do that man! You can't just creep up on someone like that you asshole." I told him. He simply smirked.

"Shouldn't you be apologizing for hitting me." I scoff and cross my arms.

"It was self-defense. I don't have to apologize for shit."

"Ophelia! Watch your language. I-I'm sorry for barging in, the door was...open " Elena goes to gesture at the now closed door.

"What?!" My eyes bulge. How is she already taking his side?

"You must be Elena" Damon says to my sister, completely ignoring me. I growl and cross my arms. "I'm Damon, Stefan's brother."

"He didn't tell me he had a brother."

"Yeah he did Lena. Jesus, is your memory getting worse or something. He just said they weren't close, I can see why." I said. Damon smiles.

"Well, Stefan's not one to brag. Please, come. I'm sure Stefan will be along any second."

"Where is he? Hunting rabbits?" I laugh, knowing that's probably what he's doing. Damon eyes me.

"Something like that." Damon leads us to the living room. It's quite extravagant and cozy, full of reds and browns. Of course, Elena has to open her annoying mouth.

"Wow. This is your living room?"

"Living room, parlor, Sotheby's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste. I see why my brother's so smitten. It's about time. For a while there, I never thought he'd get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him." I plopped down on an armchair.

"The last one?" Elena bites into what clearly is set up.

"Yeah. Katherine, his girlfriend?" Elena looks hurt. Damon nods and sucks in a breath.

"Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet." Elena breathes in.

"Nope." She shifts around and hugs herself.

"Well since we're already on the topic, Damon. What about you? Any exes worth mentioning? What, was her name Katherine too?" Damon's eyes flash. "Oh. Did I catch on to something."

"No. Nothing. Just someone who didn't love me back. That's all." I pout.

"Oh. Boo-hoo." Elena looks at me.

"Ophelia! I'm so sorry. I don't know why she's being like this. I-" before Elena could finish, I interrupt.

"Hello Stefan! I missed you. Your brother sucks." Elena turns around and I have to twist my head to be able to see him.

"Elena." Stefan says as he stares broodingly at Damon and Elena and their close proximity.

"And me! I'm the one who said hi. Why is everybody so fucking rude." I grumble. Stefan gives a slight smile.

"Hi Ophelia." He looks back at Damon and Elena. "I didn't know you were coming over." Elena walks up to him.

"I know no should've called, I just—"

"Oh, don't be silly, you're welcome any time."

"Hey, Asshole, Damien or whatever the hell your name is, don't interrupt my sister. Only I can do that." Damon turns around to look at me with pursed lips.

"I'm sorry, who are you again?" Before I could respond Stefan starts to talk again.

"Thank you for stopping by Elena," I clear my throat. He nods at me. "Ophelia. Nice to see you both." Stefan and Damon stare each other down. Elena finally noticed the tension in the room.

"Yeah, we should probably go." She turns to Damon to shake his hand. "It was nice to meet you Damon." I snap my fingers.

"Damon! That's it!" Once again, I got ignored.

"Great meeting you too, Elena." Damon kisses Elena's hand. I sigh and get up from the armchair.

"Fuck off Damien." I walk straight to Stefan who is still staring at Damon. "Stefan?"

"Stefan?" Elena repeats. He finally looks at both of us and leads us out of the house.

Damon whistles. "Great gal. Her sister, not so much. Whew. She's got spunk." Damon chuckles. His smile drops. "You, on the other hand, look pooped. Did you overexert yourself today? Let me guess. Hospital?"

Stefan walks into the living room. "Someone had to clean up your mess."

"Well. Were you successful? Did the powers of persuasion work? Remember, if you don't feed properly, none of those little tricks work right."

"How long was Elena and Ophelia here?" Stefan interrupts.

"Were you worried Stefan? Scared we may be doomed to repeat the past?" Damon chuckles. "Isn't that why you play your little game, 'I'm a high school human'?"

"I'm not playing any game."

"Of course you are. We both know the closest you'll ever get to humanity-" Damon approaches Stefan to whisper in his ear. "- is when you rip it open and feed on it." Stefan turns to face him.

"What kind of game are you playing…Damon?" Damon looks confused. He then shrugs and says,

"Guess you'll have to wait and see, won't you?" He grins and leaves Stefan in the living room.

* * *

"He's on the rebound and has raging family issues." Elena tells Jenna as they cook for dinner.

"Well, at least it's an ex-girlfriend. Wait til you date a guy with mommy issues. Or cheating issues. Or amphetamine issues." Elena makes a face and nods in agreement. I scoff.

"He is not on the rebound. I can't believe you couldn't tell that Damien was just baiting you. I think Stefan is really into you." Elena rolls her eyes (she seems to do that a lot around me).

"For the last time Ophelia, it's Damon." I wave her off.

"Same shit. He's still an Asshole." Jenna giggles. With that, we hear the door open and in comes Jeremy with his hood on his head.

"Jeremy." Jeremy starts heading up the steps when he hears Jenna. She starts stomping after him. "Jeremy, where were you?" He's halfway up the stairs when she reaches him.

"More stoner stories? Look Jenna, I get it you were cool. And so that's— that's cool." He gives her a thumbs up. Before Jenna could retort, I step in.

"Hey Jenna, he was only checking up on Vickie, Matt texted me about it. He wasn't doing anything bad. I promise." I give Jeremy a stern look. He looked grateful. He turns around to go, but Jenna throws the apple in her hand at him.

"Ow! Why?" I stifle a laugh.

"Quit ditching school or you're grounded. End of discussion." Jeremy nods at her.

"Parental authority. I like it. Sleep tight." Jeremy quickly turns around and locks himself in his room. Jenna looked confused. I slapped her on the back.

"Good job, aunt Jen! You're getting this guardian thing down!" Jenna smiles triumphantly.

* * *

It's the next day and everybody is up and ready for the comet. People are gathered around the town square pulling out their picnic blankets and getting their faces painted. Bonnie, Elena, and I are passing out pamphlets to the people of the town.

"He didn't call, huh?" Bonnie asked Elena.

"Or text." Elena said. "But I realized we never even exchanged that stuff. We've never gotten to the texting part."

"That's an important milestone in any relationship." Bonnie points out.

"Isn't it?" Elena agrees. "The timing is wrong, anyway."

"When is it ever right?" I finally say.

"I'm not ready Ophelia."

"Who is?" Bonnie says.

"At least I put myself out there." Elena comes to a stop.

"Is that what you're calling it?" I say. Elena looks down at the pamphlets in her hand.

"What do you mean?"

"All we're hearing is reasons why you can't." I said. Elena looks up and her face says it all, she agrees with what we're saying.

Further away, Caroline walks up to the man she met at the Mystic Grill. But before she can get to him, he disappears. She looks around disappointedly.

* * *

"What is Damon doing here? Why did he come home?" Questioned Zach.

"Cause I came home." Stefan replied. "He wants to make my life miserable. That's how he enjoys his." Stefan finishes buttoning up his shirt.

"Well, he's putting us all at risk. This girl in the hospital could talk."

"She won't. I took care of her." Stefan walks up to Zach.

"You're sure?" Stefan grabs his jacket and sighs heavily.

"I'm not sure, Zach." He fiddles with the jacket in his hands. "I don't know how well it

worked. I'm not as strong as Damon." Stefan finally puts on the jacket.

"So what happens if it doesn't work?"

"I don't know. But I'll deal with it." Stefan turns to leave.

"Is she worth it?" Stefan stops. "Uncle Stefan, this girl you came back for." He looks at Zach up and down and walks out of the room.

* * *

Vickie walks into Mystic Grill with a bandage covering her neck wound.

"Vickie, what are you doing here?" Jeremy asks her.

"Fighting with Robert about my schedule." Vickie places her hand on her forehead in frustration. I'm the distance, Tyler is leaning against a pool table with a pool stick in his hand, watching Jeremy and Vickie closely. "You'd think getting ripped up by a rabid animal would merit an extra sick day."

"Are you feeling ok?" Vickie sighed.

"I hurt."

"Well, the doctor gave you something, right?"

"The kid stuff. Nothing with an 'o' in it." Jeremy chuckles. "I think they were on to me." Jeremy reaches into his pocket and pulls out some pills.

"Here. Knock yourself out, literally." She grabs the bottle.

"Thanks, Jer." She takes a couple.

"So you gonna, uh, watch the comet later?" Vickie looks at him thoughtfully.

"I hadn't really thought about it. But I could be talked into it. I'll meet you out there in a few." Jeremy smiles.

"Hey, Vick. How are you feeling?" Tyler comes up to them. Jeremy looks away as Vickie's attention turns to Tyler.

"Like you care." She says and brushes past him. Jeremy tries, and unsuccessfully, to hide his smile. Tyler looks around awkwardly.

"What are you looking at, Gilbert." Jeremy says nothing and smiles as brushes past him as well.

* * *

It's night time and everybody is lighting up their candles as they collect outside in the center of the town. Bonnie, Elena, and I walk through the crowd with our candles, unlit.

"Hey. I got some candles." Caroline approaches us and hands Bonnie an unlit candle.

"Hi." Elena says and walks up to Matt who was standing a little ways away. We all follow behind her, Caroline and Bonnie interlocking arms.

"Hey." Matt says as he lights up her candle.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." They both smile at each other, and for a second, it was almost as if things were back to the way they were before our parents died. Elena walks away, and lights someone's candle without looking who it is.

"Thank you." She looks up and is face to face with Stefan. "Hi." He gives her a lopsided smile.

"Hi." She says back. I cut between them cause that's just too awkward.

"Could someone PLEASE light up my candle? I'm getting kinda cold over here." Stefan chuckles and Elena signs exasperatedly.

"Here you go Ophelia." Stefan turns his candle to mine. I give him a wink.

"Thanks oh so much." I give Elena a hip bump, which causes her to get closer to Stefan.

"Oh, before I go, you need to keep an eye on your brother Stefan, I think he wants to play a game and it's not gonna be fun." I turn and leave them, but I catch a glimpse of Stefan furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. He looks down at Elena, who is looking up at the comet.

"You know, that comet… it's been traveling across space for thousands of years. All alone."

"Yeah, Bonnie says it's a harbinger of evil."

"I think it's just a ball of...snow and ice," They continue to look at the beautiful comet as it slowly makes it across the night sky. "Trapped on a path that it can't escape. And once every 145 years, it gets to come home." There's a slight pause. "I'm sorry about yesterday. I wasn't myself." Elena huffs out a laugh.

"You seem to spend a lot of time apologizing." Stefan shifts the weight on his feet.

"Well, I have a lot to apologize for." Elena lifts her eyebrows in agreement. "Yesterday, that wasn't about you and Ophelia, ok?" Elena finally looks at him.

"You didn't tell me you had a brother." I over hear this yell at Elena.

"Yes he did! My goodness! We went over this! His exact words were 'none that I talk to', meaning, there was a sibling in the picture." Elena glares at me. Stefan looks at me gratefully and grabs her attention once again.

"We're not close. It's, uh… it's complicated." Elena agreed wholeheartedly.

"Always."

"Hey! I take offense to that!" Elena spins around.

"Will you butt out! Don't you have better things to do?" I place a hand over my heart.

"My word! Unlike you, Lena, I don't have everybody falling at my feet left and right. I'm pretty fucking lonely. Maybe I should look for a guy to fuck. Wow sis, you have the best ideas sometimes. See ya later!" I wave and walk away.

"Ophelia wai-" Elena sighs in frustration. Stefan chuckles.

"Your sister sure is something else." Elena makes a face of agreement.

"Yeah she is." She sighs out. There's another pause. Elena looks down at her candle.

"He told me about your ex. Katherine?" Elena peels over at Stefan. He looks at a loss.

"What did he say?" He said carefully.

"That she broke your heart." Stefan stops and thinks.

"That was a long time ago."

"When you lose someone, it stays with you, always reminding you of how easy it is to get hurt. Stefan steps closer to Elena and makes her look at him.

"Elena…"

"It's ok, Stefan. I get it. You have no idea how much I get it. Complicated brother? Check. Complicated ex? Check. Too complicated to even contemplate dating? Double check. It's ok. We met, and we talked, and it was epic, but… then the sun came up and reality set in." Stefan looks down at his candle then looked back up at Elena. They stared intently for a while. "So…" but Elena couldn't think of anything else to say and blew out her candle and walked away.

* * *

Vickie is at the bar when she sees Damon sipping bourbon. She stares at him, confused on to why he seemed so familiar. I walk into the grill just in time to see the interaction from a distance.

"I know you." She finally said. Damon looks at Vickie.

"Well, that's unfortunate." Vickie gets closer to him.

"Um… I don't— I don't know how, but… your face." Damon looks at her confusedly. Vickie chuckles awkwardly. "Excuse me, sorry." And walks away. Damon turns his head to look at her retreating back. I follow Vickie to the bathroom and catch her looking at the mirror. She takes pours out two more pills on her hand. Before she can take them, I speak up.

"Hey, Vickie how are you feeling." There's tears gathering up In her eyes.

"I- I don't know. I just. Feel confused. Like I should be remembering something, like it's on the top of my tongue but it won't come to me." I nod.

"It's gonna be ok Vick. I'll let you take that, I'm going to the bathroom real quick, but once I'm done, we can hang out for a while until you calm down." Vickie nods.

"I would really like that." I give her smile and turn into the stall. I hear the faucet turn on and I know that Damon is going to pop up behind her. I close my eyes, feeling like a horrible person, but I need this to happen for the plot line to unfold. Suddenly, I hear Vickie scream. I jump. This reminds me of my time in the real world. I'm still the same person. Flashes of all the horrible things I have done go through my closed lids. I haven't changed. I just do things selfishly and for my own gain. I quickly get out and look in the mirror. I take a deep breath

"Things are going to change. Starting with Vickie. She needs to leave before things get worse." I run out of the bathroom in time to hear Jeremy.

"Hey has anyone seen Vickie?"

"You're her stalker. You tell us."

"I can't find her." Before things could escalate, I interrupt.

"Hey, guys, don't worry about it! She wasn't feeling very well, so I called Jenna and she took Vickie home." The tensión quickly left the group. Matt sighed.

"Thanks Ophelia." I smile tightly.

"Yeah. No problem. Uh. I gotta go." Elena furrowed her eyebrows.

"Where?" I look at her.

"To fuck someone. Byeeee!" I quickly left before anyone could say anything. Wow. I'm out of practice. I used to not be so bad under pressure. I find Stefan outside and rush to him.

"Stefan, there's not time, Damon got Vickie, he has her on the roof." Stefan looks at me in shock.

"Wait. What?" I look at him.

"Didn't I tell you? Damon is up to something. Hurry before he hurts her." Stefan was too shocked to say anything but he jumped into action. He rushed to the mystic grill. I got closer and looked at the roof, hoping to see them.

Stefan rushes up and caught up to Damon and Vickie. Damon having his hand over Vickie's mouth to stop her screaming. _Fuck, I forgot to give everybody vervain. I'm just going to start cooking every morning so they can have vervain in their system. _I tune back into what's going on. Damon is fake throwing Vickie off the ledge of the building. I quickly run to the side of the building and start going up the fire escape

"Not bad. Have you been eating bunnies?" Damon said.

"Let her go."

"Shh. Really? Ok." Damon uncovers her mouth and feints pushing her off the roof before he throws her at Stefan. "I don't need her to be dead." Damon looks at Stefan. "But you might. What attacked you the other night?" Vickie sniffles.

"I don't know. An animal."

"Are you sure about that?" Damon insists. "Think. Think about it. Think really hard. What attacked you?"

Vickie stops and thinks. She looks at Damon in horror. I get up just in time to hear Vickie say. Damon and Stefan don't notice me.

"A vampire."

"Who did this to you?"

"You did!"

"Wrong." Damon said.

"Don't." Stefan says.

"It was Stefan. Come here." Damon grabs Vickie. "Stefan Salvatore did this to you." Before Damon could look her in the eyes to properly compel her, I wrap my hands around her eyes. Vickie screams.

"Shh. Vickie, it's ok. It's me Ophelia. Trust me, keep your eyes closed. Damon and Stefan look at me in surprise. I removed my hands from her eyes and Vickie had her eyes closed shut. That gave me enough time to slip my ring on her finger. As soon as I did, Damon shoved me away from Vickie. I landed hard on my back. He grabbed Vickie by the head and yelled at her.

"Look at me!" Vickie quickly opened her eyes in fear when she heard Damon.

"Please Damon. Don't do this." Stefan pleads.

"Ophelia!" She whimpered. Before I could say anything Damon, forced her to look at him and repeated his phrase.

"Stefan Salvatore did this to you." Vickie started to struggle.

"Let go of me! Please! She starts to sob." Damon looks at her in confused shock. Stefan looks at me as I struggle to get up. I chuckle.

"Seems like you were just a little too slow Damien." He looks at me and snarls.

"What did you do?" I look at him in mock pity.

"Did you seriously think I didn't know about you guys?" I scoff. "Please. Zach never mentioned his family before, and suddenly he has two 'nephews'? I wasn't born yesterday. Plus, my parents were a part of the council. I know about everything. So try again." They both looked at me in shock. They didn't catch my partial lie, Ophelia Gilbert was oblivious to all of this, but Ophelia Braxon has the knowledge of seeing the show multiple times to know what happens. In their distraction, Vickie manages to break free and starts to run to me, I reach my hands out to grab her, but before I could blink, Damon pushes her off the roof and disappears.

"VICKIE!" I yell and rush to the edge of the building. On the floor, I see her sprawled body, blood spilling around her. She starts to cough weakly. I look at Stefan. "Give her some blood, please." He looks at me in shock.

"I can't do that." I glare at him.

"Yes you can. She is all Matt has left… if you don't do it, I'll report you to the council." Stefan looks at me for a couple of seconds, he sighs and rushes down and feeds Vickie some blood. Slowly, her head wound healed and her bite mark scabs, and her breaths become slow and steady. Stefan looks up at me and I sigh in relief. I climb down the fire escape and meet Stefan at the bottom. I rub away my tears and sniffle when I look at Stefan.

"Now we wait. Follow me. We'll take her to her house and let her sleep there. We have to stop by my house so I can get some supplies." we get to Stefan's car and put Vickie in the back.

"Let's go inside real quick and tell everyone we're heading out." I quickly clean myself up and we head inside. Bonnie and Caroline are sitting together at a table.

"Hey, Stefan's giving me a ride so don't worry about me." I said. Caroline gave me a sly smirk.

"Your hair's a mess. I guess the guy was a good fuck." Stefan's eyebrows went high on his forehead. I flushed. Bonnie snorted. I awkwardly laughed.

"Haha. Yeah he was. He really fucked me up. So, I'm gonna rest up, night guys!" Stefan and I turn to leave, but Bonnie stops him.

"Stefan. I'm gonna give you Elena's cell number and email. She is big on texting, and you can tell her I said so." Bonnie goes to hand him the paper. Stefan looks at me. I nod at the paper. So he smiles slightly and reaches to grab it.

"Thank you." His hand brushes against Bonnie and she closes her eyes and gasps and quickly lets go of the paper in fear. She stares at Stefan and Caroline looks at the exchange, confused. "You ok?" Stefan says in concern.

"What happened to you?" I whistle.

"Okaaaay. I think that's our cue to head out." I say. Bonnie chuckles awkwardly.

"That's rude. I'm sorry. Excuse me." She gets up and walks away. Stefan and I quickly leave and get in his car. There's an awkward and tense silence. I sigh.

"I'm sorry Stefan. I know I put you in a bad situation, but I can't have her leave Matt like that. He needs her." Stefan didn't say anything for a long time.

"I can't believe you knew." I look at him in disbelief.

"Really? I guess I'm just that good of an actor." He briefly looked at me.

"And you still let me around your sister. In your house?"

"Stefan. If you wanted to kill us or if you were anything like Damon, it would've been obvious. I can tell you're sincere. I trust you Stefan." He looks at me and smiles.

* * *

Elena reaches the second floor and hears rustling coming from Jeremy's room.

"Jer?" Elena approaches the doorway and leans against the doorframe.

"No. It's me, the hypocrite patrol." Jenna says as she goes through his night table.

"What are you doing?" Jenna stands up and sighs.

"I've become my worst nightmare. The authority figure who has to violate a 16 year old's privacy." Jenna looks at Jeremy's shoes and runs to a pile of clothing on the floor. "Jackpot." She pulls at a big dark green bong. "I see the hiding places haven't gotten more creative."

"What brought this on?" Elena comes in and sits on Jeremy's bed. Jenna starts going through his dresser.

"Your asshat of a history teacher shamed me good yesterday."

"You got Tannered. Been there." Jenna pulls out a small pipe from the drawer.

"'Discover the impossible Ms. Summers.' Got it. Thanks. Like I didn't know I was screwing up." Elena grabs the pipe and starts examining it.

"You're not screwing up, aunt Jenna"

"Yes I am. You know why? Because I'm not her. She made everything look so easy." Jenna stopped and looked at Elena. "You know, high school, marriage, having you…. I can't do it. I'm gonna say or do the wrong thing, and he's gonna get worse, and it's gonna be my fault." Jenna sighs. She then sits down at the foot of the bed, facing Elena. "It's impossible." She concedes. Elena scoots up and sits in front of her.

"This is the fear talking. You're a little scared, that's all. We all are." Elena and Jenna start to tear up. Elena stops and thinks. "I have to go do something. But are you gonna be ok?" Jenna smiles and nods. Elena smiles back.

* * *

Caroline is walking to her car when she feels like she's being followed. She looks around when she finally makes it to her car. She drops her keys and bends down to pick them up. As she goes back up, she looks behind her and doesn't see anything. When she turns to her car, the stranger she met was standing right in front of her. She lets out a gasp of fright.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." She chuckles breathlessly.

"No, it's fine. Um... I was hoping I'd see you again."

"I know." Caroline giggles and flips her hair away from her face.

"Cocky much?" He smirks.

"Very much." Caroline smiles at him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Stefan and I finally made it to Vickie's. He carried Vickie all the way to the front door, and I find the extra set of keys in their hiding spot and I open the front door. Stefan carefully hands me Vickie, and I wrap her arm over my shoulders and put my arm around her waist and try and support her the best I can. I turn to look at Stefan.

"Hey, I think you should go." Stefan opens his mouth to retort, but I lift my hand to stop him. "One, you can't come in because I don't own the house and two, I think you'll have a pleasant surprise waiting for you at the boarding house." Stefan quirks an eyebrow. I wink at him. "Elena's on her way and I think she's changed her mind about you guys."

"How do you know that?" I shrug.

"It's a twin telepathy thing." I sigh and look at Stefan. "Thank you Stefan. Not just for tonight, but for making Elena happy. I know you'll protect her. Don't fuck it up. Good night!" Stefan nods and heads out. I sigh and look at Vickie. I hope I did the right thing. I quickly text Matt, telling him that I was staying over to look after Vickie and I changed into some of her clothes and knocked out for the night. Hopefully Vickie wakes up at a reasonable hour.

* * *

The doorbell to the boarding house rings. Stefan answers the door and finds Elena on the other side.

"Hi." Elena takes a deep breath.

"Hey," she breathes out. They stare for a couple seconds.

"Would you like to come in?" Stefan opens the door wider, but Elena points her thumb over her shoulder.

"The comet's actually this way." She turns around and walks to look outside. Stefan follows after her and stands next to her. Elena turns and looks at Stefan. "Sorry for barging in. Especially after earlier." He shakes his head.

"No. No. I'm glad you're here. The way we left things… I didn't like it." Elena shakes her head.

"See, the thing is, I got home tonight planning on doing what I always do, write in my diary, like I have been since my mom gave me one when I was 10. It's where I get everything out, everything I'm feeling. It all goes in this little book that I hide on the second shelf. Behind this really hideous ceramic mermaid." As Elena rambles, Stefan continues to stare at her adoringly. "But then I realized that I'd just be writing things that I should probably be telling you." Stefan furrows his eyebrows.

"What would you write?" Elena looks away and takes a deep breath.

"I would write…" she sighs. "Dear diary, today I convinced myself it was ok to give up. Don't take risks. Stick with the status quo. No drama, now is just not the time. But my reasons aren't reasons, they're excuses. All I'm found is hiding from the truth, and the truth is that… I'm scared, Stefan. I'm scared that if I let myself be happy for even one moment that… the worlds just going to come crashing down, and I— I don't know if I can survive that." Stefan is silent.

"Do you want to know what I would write?" Elena nods. "I met a girl. We talked. It was epic. Then the sun came up and reality set in. Well, this is reality. Right here." They both slowly lean in and kiss. They separate and stare at each other. Elena then reaches and grabs his chin and pulls him in for another kiss. Stefan grabs on to the side of her neck and kisses her back. He softly rubs his dumb against her cheek as they pull apart and breathe each other in.

* * *

Damon is kissing down Caroline's stomach as she softly moans when suddenly Damon's scleras turn red and dark veins spread underneath his eyes. He opens his mouth and fangs appear. Caroline's eyes widen in fear as he dives straight for her neck. Caroline screams as his teeth puncture her skin and he savagely starts to drink from her neck.

**A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! It is not completely edited because it is currently 1 AM and I'm too exhausted to read it and edit it, but It's something! I don't know how I feel about the Vickie, Damon, Stefan and Ophelia roof scene. Fun fact: I was about to make it so that Vickie turned into a vampire here but then I saw that she turns into one in episode 6, so I figured I'd keep the storyline going at a somewhat normal one to the show. I might end up removing Ophelia from the roof and leave her on the ground... tell me what you guys think about that concept! I might put a poll on my profile so go check it out!**


	3. AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hello guys! Unfortunately, this is a note and not a normal chapter. I have received a lot of rude reviews and reviews telling me what to do with my story. I just want to say a two things:

1\. I've barely posted two chapters! You guys don't know what I have planned! You guys barely have given me time to develop my character or explain anything!

2\. This is my story. If I want to write it a specific way, then I'm going to write it that way. Yes, I am essentially writing the story word for word of the script, writing the parts that my character is not in, and having my character taking some other character's lines here and there. I personally like stories like that!

I hate that I have to explain myself to you. Of course I want criticism and what you guys think, but only when I ASK you guys to give me feedback. For instance, when I asked about Vickie and if I should have made her a vampire or held back from it. I was iffy about that whole scene. It really disappoints me when I get reviews telling me my story is "boring". I want this story to roll out naturally. Action is not always immediate. I also want to integrate my character properly. Regardless, this has made me take a break from writing. I felt really invigorated with my writing and suddenly I got put down. I'm working hard and all I get are complaints and people telling me what my plot line should be. Of course, I have received some very nice comments and it really helped make me feel better! But I feel like the rest of the comments seem overwhelmingly negative. If you guys don't like my story or find it "boring" then don't read and don't comment.

I'm done venting now. Thank you to those of you who are supporting my story and are being patient enough to see what happens! Have a happy new years everybody!


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